Egyptian revolution

[ZACH ATTACK]

Has anybody else been following this? It seems that in Alexandria that police have taken off their uniforms and joined with the protesters. The ruing party's headquarters have been torched and ransacked. Buildings owned by ruling party officials are being torched and looted while it seems that Egyptians are taking precautions to protect museums and small business. Mubarak dismissed the government and said he would appoint a new one, which only caused more protest. The army was called into quell the protests, but it seems like they've mostly been fighting with the (pro government) police in Cairo. The internet has been blocked by the Egyptian government and journalists are being attacked by the police, but dial up connections out side of Egypt have been made available to keep information flowing. Al Jazeera is openly mocking the egyptian media for not reporting on the events. This is all so awesome and interesting. First Tunisia, now Egypt, and it looks like Yemen will be next. There have also been reports of anti-government protests led by women in Saudi Arabia! Iraq and Afghanistan are shit holes.

[officespace]

I have hopes for Tunsia and Egypt. I feel that Yemen will just turn into a giant shit storm, since they have no unified opposition, almost zero economic potential even if corruption is eradicated, large contingent of well-embedded violent extremists and a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

[Rude Boy Puff]

Sounds like Hosni Mubarak is talking from a concrete bunker haha.

[ZACH ATTACK]

Anonymous has started circumvented internet blockages by faxing wikileaks cables to Cairo. Apparently fax machines are useful after all.

[Hollow]

I had no idea they still existed.

[age of quarrel]

I was following this for a couple hours on the aljazeera website, saw footage of the ruling parties headquarters being burned. It's really cool how unified everyone is in defiance of the gov't despite the supression of most media/means of communication. Truly inspiring

I had to listen to "Are these our lives" after watching the aljazeera streams

[keith.]

was reading a little of this earlier today when internet and cell phone coverage was completely stopped

[dave mac]

and a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

so the population of yemen is mostly drug-addle yokels? Do you say that because the country is largely impoverished? nice. I back holding a pejorative view of people caught in circumstances beyond their control... (especially when it is people who live in situations that are literally hard for people like us to imagine)

Really, Tunisia and Egypt are also in danger of turning into a total shit storm once the euphoria of these popular protests starts to ebb. If Egypt is successful in ousting the current regime, that will open a void and their unified front will likely not hold. Who knows what sort of factional disputes will arise and who knows if those disputes could lead to more civil unrest and violence.

edit* I will say, what is going on in Egypt is pretty remarkable. Reports of groups of people protecting certain buildings and trying to prevent vandalism, protesters and police coming to an understanding on the streets, and some police even seeming to assimilate into the protesters. Looting and vandalism largely regulated to strategic targets like the offices of the ruling party. anarchists are jizzing in their pants right now.

[Hollow]

and a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

so the population of yemen is mostly drug-addle yokels? Do you say that because the country is largely impoverished? nice. I back holding a pejorative view of people caught in circumstances beyond their control... (especially when it is people who live in situations that are literally hard for people like us to imagine)

Funny. I seem to remember you giving me about a metric ton worth of shit for coming down hard on some "19 year old kid" just because he said something stupid. You were right, mind you, but you were also kind of a dick about the whole thing. And here you are doing the same thing. Interesting.


D/Warren, like to say it but he does have a point. That wasn't the smartest thing to say. Mind you, it's also not a particularly new point of view, and you aren't the first people to say it, but you should probably think a little harder before making vast generalizations about a group of people. I've done the same thing in the past, so please don't think this is me being self-righteous, cuz lord knows I'm not perfect.

[officespace]

a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

?????


-Darren

[Hollow]

a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

?????


-Darren

Uh...maybe time for you guys to get individual accounts?

[officespace]

No I say that because 80% of males and 45% of women in Yemen chew khat. They of course are undereducated in a western sense. Of course it is not their fault, but that doesn't make it any less true. Maybe it wasn't the best wording, but it defiantly is a problem if they hope to "grow" their country(for a lack of a better wording).

[dave mac]

and a population consisting mostly of ignorant drug-addled yokels.

so the population of yemen is mostly drug-addle yokels? Do you say that because the country is largely impoverished? nice. I back holding a pejorative view of people caught in circumstances beyond their control... (especially when it is people who live in situations that are literally hard for people like us to imagine)

Funny. I seem to remember you giving me about a metric ton worth of shit for coming down hard on some "19 year old kid" just because he said something stupid. You were right, mind you, but you were also kind of a dick about the whole thing. And here you are doing the same thing. Interesting.


D/Warren, like to say it but he does have a point. That wasn't the smartest thing to say. Mind you, it's also not a particularly new point of view, and you aren't the first people to say it, but you should probably think a little harder before making vast generalizations about a group of people. I've done the same thing in the past, so please don't think this is me being self-righteous, cuz lord knows I'm not perfect.

A metric ton worth of shit? Hyperbole much?

Anyways, in the interaction you speak of, here is some of the language you used:

You didn't think before you spoke, and instead of manning up and admitting that you said something fucking retarded you're doing your level best to come across as some sort of victim.

I never attacked you, boy.

You have, in the past week, completely defined yourself as a whiny bitch who can't take a joke,

I did not use these sorts of tactics when talking to Warren here, I was pointing out something I saw as ignorant in what he said. You seem to be unable to grasp the difference between discussing something and attacking someone. And for the record, some of what warren was saying is right, he just said it in a shitty way.

[tylerp]

dave mac strikes again... he's like that tag-along friend that bums everybody out, but in message board form

[Hollow]

I did not use these sorts of tactics when talking to Warren here, I was pointing out something I saw as ignorant in what he said. You seem to be unable to grasp the difference between discussing something and attacking someone. And for the record, some of what warren was saying is right, he just said it in a shitty way.

And for the record, a lot of what you said was right. You just said it in a shitty way.

[officespace]

I dunno I see nothing wrong in what Dave Mac said. I said basically the exact same thing to Warren when I read it and he said that he worded it stupidly.


-Darren

[Hollow]

No I say that because 80% of males and 45% of women in Yemen chew khat. They of course are undereducated in a western sense. Of course it is not their fault, but that doesn't make it any less true. Maybe it wasn't the best wording, but it defiantly is a problem if they hope to "grow" their country(for a lack of a better wording).

I don't know much about the subject, so I won't comment on that. I will say thanks for giving me the info, I'll definitely check up on it.

[Hollow]

I dunno I see nothing wrong in what Dave Mac said. I said basically the exact same thing to Warren when I read it and he said that he worded it stupidly.


-Darren

I agree that dave was right about this one. I just thought it was funny that he portrayed himself as the protector of the little guy in earlier posts and then turns around and gets self-righteous on someone else. Warren worded that post badly, no argument. But he's apologized and explained what he meant, so no harm done.

[dave mac]

No I say that because 80% of males and 45% of women in Yemen chew khat. They of course are undereducated in a western sense. Of course it is not their fault, but that doesn't make it any less true. Maybe it wasn't the best wording, but it defiantly is a problem if they hope to "grow" their country(for a lack of a better wording).

Yeah man, Yemen could very likely devolve into chaos if there was a power void. The fact that there is ramapant poverty, drug use and a penchant for extremism definitely lends to this possibility. I certainly wasn't arguing that. I'm just saying that the using the phrase "drug-addled yokels" is somewhat akin to racism. Though I doubt that was your intent.

If you think about it, words we use such as Yokel, or Red-Neck, or White Trash (the latter two likely never being ascribed to a yemeni) are terms which we ascribe to people for the most part because they are poor and/or uneducated. We do this in a pejorative sense, much in the same way we use racial slurs. We do this because of the society we live in exalts financial success over everything else and it is ingrained in us to think this way.

If we use a different example, say we were talking about inner city problems in certain US cities. And we were talking about the possibility of community based solutions in South Central or East St. Louis or ... (communities with some drug use problems, though I am not trying to equate the said problems of Yemen and Inner City America) and I chimed in and said that I didn't have much hope for this approach because "The residents of those communities are largely drug-addled yokels". Ouch, you know?

[Hollow]

No I say that because 80% of males and 45% of women in Yemen chew khat. They of course are undereducated in a western sense. Of course it is not their fault, but that doesn't make it any less true. Maybe it wasn't the best wording, but it defiantly is a problem if they hope to "grow" their country(for a lack of a better wording).

Yeah man, Yemen could very likely devolve into chaos if there was a power void. The fact that there is ramapant poverty, drug use and a penchant for extremism definitely lends to this possibility. I certainly wasn't arguing that. I'm just saying that the using the phrase "drug-addled yokels" is somewhat akin to racism. Though I doubt that was your intent.

If you think about it, words we use such as Yokel, or Red-Neck, or White Trash (the latter two likely never being ascribed to a yemeni) are terms which we ascribe to people for the most part because they are poor and/or uneducated. We do this in a pejorative sense, much in the same way we use racial slurs. We do this because of the society we live in exalts financial success over everything else and it is ingrained in us to think this way.

If we use a different example, say we were talking about inner city problems in certain US cities. And we were talking about the possibility of community based solutions in South Central or East St. Louis or ... (communities with some drug use problems, though I am not trying to equate the said problems of Yemen and Inner City America) and I chimed in and said that I didn't have much hope for this approach because "The residents of those communities are largely drug-addled yokels". Ouch, you know?

Now, you see, this is a post I can get behind.

And honestly, and you have a shit load more experience than I in this so feel free to correct me, but I actually feel like I hear a lot of complaints like this. "Oh, of course the projects have drug problems, stupid (n-words)" or "Bunch of white trash livin' in trailer parks and drinkin'" etc. etc. etc. While by no means do I believe that people should be divorced from responsibility, I do feel like language like that doesn't help address the actual problem or fix anything.